Five pirates drown with $3m ransom share

Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported $3m ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and port town resident said yesterday.

Daud Nure said the boat, with eight people on board, overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star, following a two-month stand-off in the Gulf of Aden that ended on Friday.

He said five people died and three people managed to swim ashore. Nure was not part of the pirate operation but knew those involved.

Jamal Abdulle, a resident of Harardhere, close to where the ship had been anchored, confirmed that the boat sank and that the eight's portion of the ransom money, which had been shared among dozens of pirates, was lost.

Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi said yesterday that the crew of the Sirius Star were safe, and that the tanker had left Somali territorial waters and was on its way home.